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The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


For Managers

For Managers

Get a Lawyer

by 5 days ago


lawyer

Do not wait, it may be too late.

Get a lawyer. Get one now. Do not wait. It may be too late. Do not hesitate. Be the first one on your block to be represented by an attorney. Don’t wait until you think you need one. Don’t wait until you are faced with a problem collecting a fee and need help. Know one now and get advice before that happens.

You are in a business. I know it is a professional occupation, but it is also a “business;” a business based on contracts between you and your clients. And your clients have lawyers on their staff or use them on a retained basis. You have to get on an even par with them before they have the advantage over you. Do not delay any longer, stop and get a lawyer now and then come back to read the rest of this article. But if you put it off, do not blame me. Read on.

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Entrepreneurship, For Managers

What It Really Takes to Own a Profitable Recruiting Business

by 12 days ago


money_bags

It can be relatively easy to open a recruiting firm, especially if you’ve decided to be a sole proprietor working from home It is much more difficult to create a profitable recruiting business. Starting a small business takes courage, but courage does not pay the bills. Have you taken the time to stand back and review all aspects of business ownership?

If you are your business and it can’t profitably run without you, you have merely created a job for yourself.

You are in business for two primary reasons:

  1. To generate profits
  2. To live the lifestyle of your dream

If you are not generating profits, to be blunt you don’t have a business — you have an expensive hobby.

The good news: it is never too late to make changes necessary to elevate your business to a new level of success. You can’t continue to do things the same way and expect different results. As a business owner, you need to embrace and implement change in order to take advantage of trends.

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Business, For Managers

An Eight-Step Process for Achieving Your Goals

by 2 weeks ago


goals

Using a proper methodology for setting your goals is very important because the result must be specific, realistic, and most importantly, achievable. Additionally, you must baseline your performance and establish specific activity benchmarks that must be met on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis in order to achieve your goals (see my June 2008 article in The Fordyce Letter, “Baseline Your Performance”).

Observations from my consulting work with hundreds of search and staffing firms indicate that goal setting is generally a challenge for both management and staff. However, as turnover rates and year-end results clearly demonstrate, the bigger challenge is achieving the goals once they are established.

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For Managers

Why You Should Be Seriously Thinking About Succession Planning NOW , Part II

by on Jan. 20, 2012


keys

The KEY to Growing a Great Business That Commands Top Dollar When You are Ready To Leave…. Even if Your Time Horizon is 10 or More Years Out

Last week I wrote about what many believe to be the first step in a successful exit plan from this business. That step requires you to have a clear vision for yourself as to a) “what’s next?” in your life and b) how much money you have to have put away to finance that lifestyle.

As I stated last week, the absolute best time to begin an exit plan is five, ten, or more years before you plan on leaving the business. Why? Because it takes time to put in place and then master the right systems and strategies to maximize your firm’s valuation. The more systematic your recruiting business, the more likely you will sell it for the highest amount possible.

What if you are not sure you EVER want to leave the business? Keep reading. Here is what I discovered in building a firm with the objective of maximizing its value to a buyer:

The way to grow a great business is to set it up as if you wanted to sell it. 

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For Managers

Why You Should be Seriously Thinking About Succession Planning NOW — Even if Your Time Horizon is 10 or More Years Out!

by on Jan. 13, 2012


keys

Most of us dream of the string of days where we won’t have to deal with clients and candidates ever again. The day where we sell our firm for millions, buy a small yacht, and tour the Caribbean.

The problem is that most recruiting firm owners are ill-prepared for anything close to this reality for several reasons. In this two-part article I hope to share some insights to help you prepare an exit strategy for your business even if your time horizon to leave this business is a decade or more out.

As a matter of fact, the longer your time horizon the better off you are simply because you have time to implement the right systems and structure into your business that will make it the most attractive to a potential buyer. Additionally, you have time to really do some introspection on what life will be like after you leave your firm.

In part one of the series, I will tackle helping you define the next steps AFTER you transition out of this business, and in part 2, next week, I will outline the things you can do NOW to begin to maximize value of your firm and some ideas on structuring the deal.

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For Managers

Planning To Win: A Guide to Writing a Business Plan For Your Organization

by on Jan. 10, 2012


road by Hey Paul

 ”All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” — Earl Nightingale, American motivational speaker and author

What are your business objectives for 2012? I know we have personal resolutions that we announce to the world and then try to keep but what are your New Year resolutions for work? Most sales organizations begin the year with a plan to fail because they did not have a strategic plan to win. The most successful plans require the following:

  1. Plans must be specific, detailed and realistic
  2. Plans must be written down and accountable
  3. Plans must be associated with deadlines or deliverables
  4. Plans must be measurable for success or failure
  5. Plans must have the ability to change or adjust based on success of goals

I encourage you to sit down this year to come up with a detailed business plan that is worthy of the industry and the company you represent. In the spirit of Work, Compete, or Dominate, you should be focused on nothing less than Competing or Dominating. Start thinking about the following…

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Business, For Managers, The Business of Recruiting

The Importance of Drama in Your Business

by on Dec. 19, 2011


drama-masks

I attended the NAPS conference back in September. I left angry and frustrated after listening to Don Schmincke defiantly explain that success in our companies is not about mastering processes, metrics, goals, or strategic analysis. Hadn’t I just filled three exercise books with notes on exactly that, ready to fly home to Japan to change the face of recruiting?

Wasn’t the NAPS conference all about the processes of recruiting, content, metrics, scripts, function, industry specialization, and location?  Not to Schmincke — he indicated that these are important but are not the main drivers of our businesses.

I now had more questions than answers. Why had I started my own firm eight months earlier? What was our mission at our new company, Morunda KK? What was our dream, our purpose? Was I crazy?

Schmincke spoke of Viktor Frankl from his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor, observed human behavior as a prisoner in Nazi Germany’s concentration camps. He discovered that it was those people that had a dream, purpose, and passion that survived the concentration camps, and those that didn’t perished.

Don Schmincke had rekindled the desire that had led me to recruiting ten years earlier. I started to dream and imagine in a way I had not done for a long time. The words of Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World) sprang to mind, “I’ll greet this day with love in my heart for this is the greatest secret of success.”  Passion and love drive profits, not processes.  Our attitude determines our achievements in life and in business. Passion always triumphs.

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For Managers

If You Want To Measure Something, Measure Quality of Activity

by on Dec. 5, 2011


Lao Tzu

“Great acts are made up of small deeds.” — Lao Tzu (ancient Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism)

How true this is in our own business. Too often, we tend to focus on the end result by concentrating on the number of submits per week or the number of appointments you had this week. Don’t get me wrong — those are important KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to follow; however, you could make your weekly quota of meetings and submits week after week and still not be close to driving revenue at the end of the month.

Activity without “quality” is just a wasted exercise of time, resources, and company money. – Daniel Guelzo 

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Editor's Corner, For Managers

Making Workplace Adjustments to Accommodate Unconventional Leadership

by on Nov. 21, 2011


TimTebow

I’ve been a fan of Tim Tebow since he was at the University of Florida. I cheered for him then, and I take great pleasure in cheering for him still — and not just because he is a Gator (like me), a Heisman trophy winner, and an all-around awesome guy. I cheer for him because while he was a winner in college, he’s a guy who isn’t “supposed” to win in the NFL — and yet he does. He’s the proverbial underdog that we all claim to want to see win. (Though popular opinion sure doesn’t seem to indicate that… but that’s a completely different article.)

So after the Denver Broncos’ record improved to 5-5 (4-1 with Tebow starting) with a win over the Jets this last Thursday, I was so pleased to read this fantastic article by my colleague, John Hollon about how Tebow is breaking the mold of what success and leadership is supposed to look like in the NFL.

Leadership, no matter what line of work you are currently in, doesn’t have to come in a certain package, a certain style, a certain look, or from a certain background. Hollon says,

“If you get locked into believing that a leader must look and act a certain way, or have a certain kind of demeanor and experience, you’ll miss out on the unconventional person (or style) who can be equally (if not more) successful for you.”

In order for this to happen, sometimes you have to change what you may not even realize is broken. Because it’s not. It’s just not as good as it could be.

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For Managers

“The Phone Rang…” The Success Pyramid

by on Oct. 21, 2011


JOHN WOODEN

The phone rang. It was Craig, a recruitment firm owner from Westwood, California—home of my alma mater, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I often think of UCLA…

One of the reasons I went to UCLA was that I wanted to be proud when I was asked where I received my college degree. And it worked. I am proud when asked that question. But, in addition to my diploma, I gained something else along the way. I became aware of the teachings of our legendary basketball coach, John Wooden – The Wizard of Westwood. I still remember watching him from the student section at Pauley Pavilion as the Bruins were warming up before a game; his calm professionalism; his rolled-up program; how he looked up into the stands behind the Bruin bench right before the tip-off to find his beloved wife Nellie and give her a wink and a wave.

During my college years, I learned about the Wooden Pyramid of Success that Coach spent fourteen years developing. It requires a lot for those who follow it, but it is a proven foundation to build upon.

In this article, I am going to discuss Coach Wooden’s pyramid and how the central blocks and the external casings relate to our world of executive recruitment.

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